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Shergar mediator reveals IRA informer knew secret code word

Monday, June 17, 2013

By Lynne Kelleher

The racing pundit who mediated with Shergars kidnappers has told how the IRA informer who claimed the horse was shot shortly after he was snatched knew secret codes used during the hostage talks.

Derek Thompson, who worked for ITVs racing team at the time, was one of three horseracing journalists who was asked by the IRA to conduct the hostage talks in Belfast.

A password he had never revealed was included in a book written by IRA supergrass Sen OCallaghan, who claimed the IRA organised the theft but had killed the horse within 36 hours when the stallion injured his leg.

In a new TV3 documentary, Mr Thompson says OCallaghan revealed a covert code word used in the phone negotiations in his book, The Informer.

Everything I remembered I put on to a tape recorder and the police were aware of this, and a number of code names I was using came out, but one or two didnt.

Then I was reading a book by this IRA man and one of the code names was there that hadnt become public. He used a code word that very, very few people knew.

He reveals how he was called in the middle of the night by the Press Association and told he had been requested to carry out the negotiations. He tells of how he entered the Europa Hotel surrounded by camera crews and was told to pick up a phone.

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Shergar mediator reveals IRA informer knew secret code word